The Smithers Art Gallery presented to town council at tonight’s (Tuesday) meeting to propose moving its Creation Station into the current Smithers Public Library building.
The town announced on May 30th, the library would be moving to the Heartstrings building on 3rd Avenue.
“The town has been supportive of the gallery and our programing, through grants and aid, and the use of town buildings to host our visual arts programing,” said Gallery Manager Nicole Chernish.
According to the gallery, visual arts programming in town has increased 400 per cent since the Creation Station started in 2018.
In November 2024, the town alerted the gallery it would not be continuing the Railway Avenue location lease, and have since been able to secure a location on Broadway Avenue for the next three years.
“It is one third the size and has added about $15,000 to our already tight budget,” said Chernish.
“We are working extremely hard to find generous corporate sponsors to meet this new space so that we can keep costs reasonable for our community.”
Another issue voiced was how the new location only has one space, making concurrent workshops and programs more difficult.
Before a decision can be made around the gallery moving into the library building, an inspection is required to see if the building is still fit for use.
It was also proposed for the gallery to work with the town on identifying common goals for building a new Creation Station should the library no longer be useable.
“The gallery has shown our ability to grow visual arts programming, working with other organizations and institutions to meet needs and create opportunities for children, youth, and adults of all ages,” Chernish said.
Council voted to have staff provide a report with further information on the gallery’s request.
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